DAFFODIL FESTIVAL GRAND FLORAL PARADE

Saturday, April 10, 2010

TACOMA - PUYALLUP - SUMNER - ORTING

by Carol Kapua:

Its me again.  I did forget to mention that in Orting we had several guest from other festivals walk with us and they all had a great time.  We had Carl Thompson carry the banner.  He is always entertaining. Joanie had a hard time keeping up with him. From Wenatchee we had Chancellor Don Gurnard and First Lady Debbie, Director General Tom Robbins and Lady Leah, and from the Round Table Group Jim McDonald and wife Pat. Just a California Black out.
 
According to what I saw this morning on the weather Thursday there is showing no rain and then it gets a little iffy. Saturday and Sunday look like it may be nice. I will not be available on Sunday. Linda F. has called and would like to get started. It is important to pull the float out and organize the storage units and clean out the trailer and organize it also. At the same time maybe the ideas can be discussed and plans can be made to start right away. 
 
Thanks again Jodi for the nice remarks. If you did not have fun it would be your own fault. 

by Carol Kapua:

Well we are off and running. This last weekend was our first parade of the season. Our new float. No, we did not win an award but it is the best float out there. Thanks to some key people, Tom, Greg, and Darrell. They brought the float up to top quality. 
 
We have the best sound system. Boy does it work. The iPod was a birthday gift to Tom and he talked it over with Linda and they donated it to the festival. Greg did all the welding. He did some amazing things. Darrell installed new gauges that really work, a real horn (that works) and a new shifting unit that makes shifting a dream, and also a starter button and it starts right up.
 
Tom flew up every weekend to work on this float taking personal days off and vacation time to make this all happen. Greg took days off and worked all day and then worked all night on the float. These two guys did this because they love the festival.
 
Without these 3 guys we would still be complaining about the float. Chuck was not able to do very much because of his surgery and he is coming along now. He would have been right in there with these guys.
 
We now have an amazing cafe on board. What a surprise. It comes with a microwave, coffee pot, and a toaster, and a plug in ice chest. Do you get the feeling that we like comfort and food. We just need a tv now and then we are all set.
 
It is still not too late to thank these guys.

On Friday we left and went down to help with the last minute things on the float and to do the flowers. Those that went down on Friday were Linda F., Joan, Bobbi, Angie, Jodi, Genie, DC, and myself. Do you know how hard it is to find large marbles? We also had the help of the following Seafair Marshals Katie, Vicki, Walt, and Lee. Thank you and the hammer came in handy Lee. Everyone did what they could but we just ran out of time.

Teresa and Debbie brought the royalty down and let me tell you this is a great group. It was so amazing to watch them work the crowd. They are worth their weight in gold. Can hardly wait for the rest of you to see them in action. They worked so hard but were willing to do especially the parade in Orting again. They are not helpless and made their own sandwiches. Thank you so much for your hard work and never stopping and then when it was over changed your outfits and came over to thank the float crew. It is going to be a great year.
 
Tonight Greg and family brought the float back up here and we can do some of the work that needs to be done. There are some details that we can complete and organize the float storage and clean out the trailer. We have 3 weeks before the next parade. We need to do this when the weather permits. Tuesdays are bad for me but most of the other days work. Please give me your ideas. I can drive the float in and out of the trailer. Whatever we are going to do we need to do it now.
 
Greg is going to be going over to Wenatchee on Thursday afternoon (late). Jodi call him and you guys work it out. We can do whatever else we need to at the Town Toyota Center and not have to work all day on Friday.  Debbie we can feed the girls before you leave to go home. They will be hungry. If we need we can have something ready for them to have.
 
We have an amazing float and royalty so this is going to be a very good year. Hope that you all will participate in the fun and be proud of what we have.